Relative Time Episode 1: Eternal Light
by Mat Greenfield
Summary: The first of what I hope will be a series of episodes of my own Doctor Who series. I'm leaving a lot of things ambiguous here, such as which incarnation, past or future, of the The Doctor. This is part one of episode one. Enjoy and review!


**Doctor Who: Relative Time**

**Eternal Light**

**By Matthew Greenfield**

Hi there, this is my first attempt at a serious fanfic, and my first at a Doctor Who. My hope here is to establish characters and a story arc that will span a series of stories called 'Relative Time', with this being the first story in it. It's been a while since I wrote a fanfic and I had to set myself major rules on the writing of it that I know let down my previous stories.

Firstly, I wanted to ensure that I based none of the characters on myself, which I've done before and always suck.  
Secondly, to keep this in continuity with the series for as long as possible, I've not specified which Doctor this is, it could be eleventh, twelfth, thirtieth, tenth, ninetieth, hundredth, I really didn't specify, even with any physical appearance, it's all to your imagination, but you should know that it's in The Doctor's relative future. I still put references to other Doctor's, but be assured that none of them are supposed to be indicative of which Doctor it is, because even I don't know. I'm also trying to keep all this in one page, hoping it'll flow better that way, lol. Also, the narrative won't always be Jessica, it'll switch between all three main characters between stories, or if necessary between chapters. Please enjoy and review.

Oh, and I don't own Doctor Who and all that jazz.

Prologue

"Allons-y!" after a short pause he muttered, "Wow, I haven't said that in a while!"

It is peculiar, but after all this time no matter how bumpy the journey is, I'm always taken aback by the motion of the room when it starts to quake. As it subsided, and I was able to stand up again, I noticed that the man to whom I was, in a sense, serving as a travelling companion was staring intently at the screen at the side of the console, looking concerned.

"Sudden burst of radiation on earth...2008, not far off for you, eh?" he suddenly addressed me as he pressed a button on the console and, with all the dramatic flair he could muster while struggling to stand up, he pulled a lever. The shaking worsened as I knew, we plunged into yet another adventure.

Chapter 1: Adulthood

I sighed relief at the end of another day as I dropped my backpack on the floor, narrowly avoiding Katy running unsteadily past after Whittles the dog, which plainly reminded me that my day was far from over. She quickly fell over and landed on her butt, a momentary pause and she burst into tears wailing. Now more than immune to the screams, I picked her up and carried her through to the kitchen, passing Ryan and Josh arguing over the remote in the lounge. As I entered the kitchen I noticed Stella trying to make, what I assumed to be a casserole. I settled Katy in her high-chair, Stella thanked me before promptly reprimanding me for leaving my backpack in the hall, even though she hadn't checked, albeit affectionately.

"I'm not a kid anymore!" I replied in mock indignation.

"Not yet. One more week Jess, worried?"

I didn't reply, I didn't even reprimand her for calling me Jess (for once), I know perfectly well what she was getting at, I knew I was hardly the first one, especially with Stella being here so long, but I know the last one had been a while ago, and it always seemed to be a tentative subject. Once Katy was happily spreading mushy peas on her face, I quietly left the room, leaving my backpack on the way, and headed upstairs.

Once I reached my bedroom, which was decorated in a manner far too juvenile for me now, I collapsed on my bed and pulled out my copy of _Regeneration_ by Pat Barker, flicked through until I found my place and began to read. Several hours passed uninterrupted, I distantly heard muffled shouts of the children downstairs and Stella's techniques to make them behave. In a children's care home, attempts to be parental always seem like a parody, somehow. I read on and on until Michael, another care worker, stuck his head around the door and asked if I could help him look after the other kids while Stella was out shopping, I got up and left the room, making a point not to look at the letter stuffed back into its envelope on my desk.

By the time me and Michael had gotten all the kids sitting down to eat, I decided I wasn't hungry and, knowing that he wouldn't have made enough anyway (he's rubbish at cooking, but he tries, bless him) I slipped out of the room while Michael was busying himself with settling Katy. I didn't feel like reading again so I went and watched TV, I was watching the local news, a report on a number of people who'd gone missing in recent days, soon after I switched to a show with a scientist who had followed these five children their whole lives and had made observations about growing up. Katy must've escaped Michael's control and came tumbling into the room, she picked herself up and gazed up at me with her big blue eyes. Obligingly, I picked her up and sat her on my knee, she burped. I sat contently watching the show when Ryan burst in and quickly changed the channel, interrupting the programme for some cartoon with what appeared to be a ninja fighting a weird part-elephant part-ostrich creature. Gradually, the other kids came back from eating and the usual arguments over the remote soon began amongst them. I passed Katy to Stella, who had returned and had been looking oddly at me for a while now, and went upstairs, I had to face up to it.

I almost marched into my room and went straight for the letter on my desk, I opened it and read the words that, though I had read only once before, has been burnt into my mind. But now I knew I had to finish it, I had to know what awaited me.

Chapter 2: Perception

Another three days passed in a similar fashion. Went to college, went back to the home, read, and helped the adults. Whilst in the back of my mind that letter still played on my mind, knowing what it had said hadn't rested my mind as much as I'd hoped, just made more things for me to worry about. But still, in a break from routine, I was working tonight. That evening at work passed in a manner just as comfortably familiar as all the other ones, I noticed the familiar and eccentric people who were regulars at the supermarket, and sang to myself quietly as I stacked the shelves. I like to think I'm a good singer, though no-one's ever told me so.

When you work at a supermarket, you tend to tune out the customer's; they don't quite register in your mind unless they address you directly, though I still like to notice the regulars. Indeed, when two completely new faces walked in the door not far away from where I was stacking, I didn't take much notice. They were two men; one looked about the same age as me and had straggly, medium length brown hair, and the other looked slightly older but still quite young. I noticed the younger of the two run off past the checkouts, stopping at every aisle and looking intently up it. The older flattened his hair and marched off towards the back of the store. The younger one's running, given that they had entered so calmly, caught the attention of a lot of people, but something was captivating about this man marching off and I was the only one to see him walk through the big door marked "Staff only". I ran to catch up with the man, and lingered quietly behind him as he turned a corner into the warehouse. The man groaned as he looked around at the sheer number of shelves before moving over to the first one and reaching into his pocket. For the first time in a few years, I sensed danger and, in an uncharacteristic moment of bravery, I coughed pointedly to get his attention.

The man didn't seem particularly startled as he turned around to see what had made the noise, but his eyebrows rose slightly. He smiled, I couldn't help noticing how widely he smiled, and it was hard to tell whether it was warm and friendly or a little creepy.

"Hello there!" He exclaimed, "And you are?"

I felt this was an odd question coming from him, and I momentarily thought that he might be a manager I just hadn't met yet, but no, he wasn't wearing any ID, nor did he look pompous and arrogant. But I answered his question nonetheless.

"I'm Jessica. Um, you're not supposed to be back here" I said hesitantly.

"No, I'm not, but the thing is, Jess, I'm-."

"Jessica!" I interrupted immediately.

"Ok, do you have a problem with Jess?"

"Makes me sound like a cat."

"Doesn't it just," he grinned, "thing is Jessica, I'm looking for something."

"And I'm guessing this thing isn't on our shelves."

"Well, if you'd found it yet, you'd know, and you'd probably be dead."

He reached into his pocket once again and pulled out what I can only describe to be a short tube with switches, parts, a button and a large light on the end. He aimed it at the nearest shelf and pressed the button. The light on the device glowed and it made a very peculiar noise, once I had determined that he wasn't damaging anything I relaxed a bit, he made me feel at ease.

"So, what about you then?" I asked, trying to talk casually.

"Hmm?" he murmured.

"Well, I told you my name, what's yours?"

He turned to face me, turning off the device.

"Quite right too, Jessica Bright," I soon realised that my full name was on my badge, "I'm The Doctor."

He didn't elaborate on that sentence, but turned back the shelf and resumed. I was at a loss to think of what to say next, so I asked what he was doing.

"I'm scanning your stock with my Sonic Screwdriver, that's what this is, by the way," he indicated the tube, "for signs of radiation, I detected traces of radioactivity in this area and came to investigate, it can't be on the shop floor so I had to come back here, which is why my friend caused a subtle distraction. But it didn't fool you did it?"

"You walked right past me, of course I noticed you."

"Yeah, but I walked past a load of other people too, but you were different, you looked for the thing that others couldn't see. Jessica Bright, you're brilliant!"

The Sonic Screwdriver began to beep ominously and The Doctor looked at it, made a frustrated noise and walked past me, I followed him as he marched out onto the shop floor again and put the device back in his pocket. He shouted down the central aisle.

"ISAAC!"

The young man I had seen him with earlier stopped abruptly whilst continuing his faux rampage, he walked towards The Doctor and stopped in front of him, smiling at me briefly as he approached.

"Made a new friend, Doc?"

"Isaac, the source has moved, I don't know how but we have to find it, if it's moving that could mean it's alive, and I wouldn't want to be the first person it met."

The Doctor nodded and began to walk, almost serenely, towards the exit. He quickly turned around and said,

"Oh yeah, Isaac, Jessica, Jessica, Isaac"

We shook hands; Isaac looked bemused at this afterthought introduction, before the two turned around and walked out the door. I stood bemused for a moment, before I went back to stacking shelves.

Chapter 3: Excursion

I quickly came to consider my meeting with The Doctor as simply a deviation from my normal day and didn't think much of it. I had too many other things to think about, anyway. The next day I looked around my room and decided that it was time to pack, and if I didn't know, it would only get harder. I pulled out the letter for a third time and read.

_Dear Miss. Bright_

_Firstly, I'd like to wish you Happy Birthday and hope that you have a good time; eighteen is a milestone and should be enjoyed fully, but safely. Following on from our meeting last month, I have enclosed the details of your movement to transitional housing, _(better known as a 'Halfway House')_ after you have turned 18. As you know, you may remain there for several years whilst we help you continue your studies, which I'm told are progressing tremendously, and work so that you may be emancipated and become deemed a full adult outside of care. However, whilst at your new home you will be considered and treated as an adult and given the freedom and responsibilities that come with that. But not to worry, we will still be here for you._

_Please read through the attached information and feel free to ring me at any time should you have any questions._

_Sincerely,_

_Miss Joanna Readings_

Attached to the letter was a page of details, I was to move to a 'Kensington House' in West Sussex and live with a head worker known as Penny and other young adults my age. I was to leave for the new house in three days, in which I was expected to say goodbye to what had been my home for nearly fifteen years when my mum and dad had died. As much as I tried, I couldn't be angry at Miss Joanna Readings, Stella, Michael or anyone else for rushing my farewell, I had known this was coming for a long time. But I didn't want to know.

Another hour of reading, packing having turned out to only be a thought without action, before Stella poked her head around the door. I nodded her in and she glanced over at the letter, I guess she didn't want to push the subject on me so she grinned instead, partially reminding me of The Doctor, and suggested a shopping trip.

I was surprised by the suggestion in the first place, and even more surprise came when I found out that none of the other kids were coming and Michael was to be left to fend for himself that afternoon. I wasn't even suspicious when we went into clothes shops and I was, unusually, allowed to buy the most expensive top I could find. When Stella 'casually' wandered over to was a suitcase shop, it twigged that she was trying to help me get packing for my departure.

"I know its heard love, but we've all got to grow up sometimes" she said softly.

"I had to grow up a long time ago! Do you think its easy being the oldest?"

I ran from the shop and as far as I could get, I wasn't angry at Stella and I know she was only trying to help me prepare for the inevitable, I wasn't even really angry about having to help look after the other kids all the time, that was the main reason I didn't want to leave. But I had made my step today by facing up to the letter and, at least, thinking about packing, I didn't need this. My phone rang several times, Stella first a few times then a call from Michael, apparently seeing if I'd talk to him instead, I turned my phone off, fully intending to call them when I was ready to.

I sat down on a bench in the middle of the mall and looked up through to the upper levels, watching the people look down at me before going on their business, not looking in much detail but quickly gaining an idea of their lives and personality, before I realised that just by looking, I could have no idea, when I saw someone I recognised. College? No. Home? No. Work? No...YES! I quickly recognised that straggly brown hair and recognised Isaac.

Isaac was looking nervously around, apparently not a distraction this time, and no sign of The Doctor. I climbed the stairs to reach his level and watched as he turned into a small bookshop, I entered after him, though he'd had a major head start. The book was small, and had an ancient look about it, in a classic way it was full of books to the point where you couldn't easily move or stand without toppling over piles of books. From my hiding place behind a shelf, I could see Isaac standing by a desk with a big, old-fashioned till on it, he was hopping from foot to foot, either agitated or really needing the toilet. He was holding a piece of paper with something written on it that I couldn't make out but appeared to be some sort of formula. Before long, an old man carrying two cups of tea appeared from a door behind the desk and sat down.

"Professor," Isaac greeted him warmly as he approached, "We need your help."

"Again, my boy?" the old man answered, "I suppose you don't really keep track of how often you come in here relatively."

"Actually, no we don't. We come back as closely spaced as we can, so that my parents don't get suspicious." Isaac smirked.

"No doubt, no doubt," the Professor wheezed vaguely as he adjusted his seating, Isaac reached to pick up a cup of the tea, but the man quickly snapped it away from him, "Um, no my dear boy that's not for you, I only make this tea for people who don't continually badger me, though it remains to be seen."

Isaac seem unperturbed by his odd statement and instead laughed, albeit nervously.

"Anyway, what can I do for you, my boy?" the Professor said quizzically.

Isaac put the piece of paper on the desk. The professor put on a pair of almost comically large glasses and examined it, gripping his chin. He made brief interested noises until his eyes widened and he looked up at Isaac.

"Where did he find this?"

"He's been tracking it for a few days now, he said that it's called 'Sted' radiation, but he's only encountered it once before and has little knowledge of it. He's been trying to track the source and was wondering if you had anything that could help."

The Professor considered him for a moment and then, with a liveliness quite unfitting to his apparent age and health, jumped up out of his seat and began frantically searching through a nearby shelf. He spoke as he searched.

"Yes, Ye-s, I came across this type of radiation on my travels, but not personally, only chilling accounts of its terrible effect, I was quick to look into this and found some research material." He pulled a small red book down from a shelf and carried it over to the desk. He handed it to Isaac but let his hand linger on it when Isaac tried to take it, staring intently into his eyes.

"I hope, then, that our friend knows exactly what _not_ to do."

"Let's hope so. But are you sure it's safe to keep books like this in a place like this?"

"Oh, of course, it's the perfect place, nobody's interested in dusty old books like this, they're much happier with their primitive DVDs and MP3s, my day is quite quiet, at least it was before you started ignoring the _etiquette_ of relative time. Since I settled down and became human I've found it comforting to _know_ how much I've aged instead of just...guessing."

The professor let go of the book and sat back down. Isaac flicked through the book quickly and, seemingly satisfied, thanked the Professor and went to leave the shop. Stopping just short from the door, he turned back to the Professor and said.

"Be careful Professor, we're not sure where it is, but we know it's close."

From my hiding place, I had forgotten that I was trailing Isaac and stood for a few moments behind the shelf considering what I had seen. The professor sipped his tea before looking up, directly at where I was.

"Your tea's getting cold, my dear"

I sprang from my hiding place and stood for a second staring at the Professor's warm smile. Shocked, I ran from the shop. When I was out of the door I looked back in the window and saw the Professor leave his seat and disappear down the doorway. I looked up at the bookshop's large sign.

"**PROFESSOR CHRONOTIS. BOOKS OF THE UNIVERSE.**"

I ran away.

Chapter 4: Alternatives

This had stopped just being a peculiar event, now I was involved, the Professor had known I was there all along, I gather from the tea, and had still allowed me to listen, somehow I was part of this. Had Isaac known I was there too? Where was The Doctor in all this? What the hell is Sted Radiation?

So, once I got home, I did what all twenty-first century people do when faced with difficult questions, I googled it.

That night I scoured the internet, I tried every alternative I could think of, I couldn't know the answer to the first two questions but at least I could try and find out the latter, and no results that gave me even the slightest clue, there were results but nothing relevant about radiation. It was driving me insane, I even tried searching for a Professor Chronotis but that had nothing. I suppose the most direct approach would've been to go back to the bookshop, but I was too worried about facing what was going on directly. Little did I know that soon, once again, the matter would become too pressing for me to avoid.

That night I had a dream, nothing in particular, at first it was just the usual stuff, nightmares of being naked in public and stuff like that, then it moved on to more pressing matters like leaving the home. Then everything stopped, in mid-action it all went black. Then this light, this gloriously bright burning light filled my mind's eye, I could hear singing, at least I think it was singing, it was beautiful. Then I woke up. I admit that it's nothing significant but everything had been so mad lately I was getting suspicious of every little detail.

The next morning I was at college, I was still thinking about the previous day's events but I had started to put it out of my mind. It was English Literature, we'd been reading poems on World War One, which was why I was reading _Regeneration_ in a hope to support that, and the teacher, Martin, was making a pointed arguement that though we may view war as horrific and wrong, the opinion of the men at the time, and by rights should still be the opinion now, was that fighting was necessary to defend for the greater good, and that sometimes there was no alternative. He also countered his arguement by suggesting that fighting and warfare should be used as a last resort where diplomacy fails. The general statement he conveyed at the end, that there, undoubtedly, were alternatives to fighting, but sometimes it was necessary _for the greater good_.

I was listening, albeit barely, and trying to stop my mind from lingering on the strange events of the past few days. Maybe if I went back to Chronotis he would be able to tell me...no! Stop thinking about it.

"Dulce et Decorum est..."

But what if this is the fight that I have to fight, what if my inaction leads to something bad. The Doctor had said that this radiation, assuming it was the same type, was deadly, and Chronotis wanted me to be involved somehow, or else he wouldn't have made my presence known to Isaac. Was this my fight?

After the lesson I went to talk to my friend, Ceri, who does basically all the sciences that the college offer, and asked her if she'd heard of 'Sted Radiation'.

"Jessica, are you just trying to outsmart me? So you found out about something on the internet that I don't know about! Big Deal!"

She stormed off, I later found out that she had failed the last module and she was feeling tetchy about her intelligence, I apologised to her later but I gathered she hadn't heard about this either, unsuprising given my searches were fruitless. After trawling the science section of the library, I gave up and decided I'd go home for the afternoon and rest, I didn't have anymore classes anyway.

I took a shortcut home, I discovered this alternative route a few weeks ago when I went for a walk and got lost, I'd retraced it a few times and knew I could remember the route well now, it cut directly through a large area of woodland that came out down the road. I hadn't seen any people along this route yet and hoped that I wasn't trespassing, though surely such areas would be fenced off. No sooner had I calmed myself with this when I..._sensed_...rather than heard something coming out of the trees to my right. It quickly passed the threshold of my hearing and became an audible movement.

In 1915, Walter Cannon invented the '_Fight or Flight_' theory. That is, every living organism, when faced with a potential threat, will naturally do one of two things. One response, and the one that every egotistical human likes to think would be theirs, is to stand their ground, face the threat and fight, possibly for their life. The alternative is to run, as soon as a threat approaches, is to ignore any further information or detail and, as soon as it can be classed as a threat, run away. Personally, it was never a decision, flight had always been the sensible solution, besides, there was no possible way I could hold up in a fight. Had I'd been as sensible, and gone for flight, when I was younger, my parents might still be around. In the woods, whatever was coming was no exception and, instinctively, I ran.

I didn't know my way through the woods, and it probably would've made more sense to run in the direction I was heading before, as I knew that lead home, well, _the _home. Remarkable how in the face of danger logic takes a backseat to instinct, but away I ran. I couldn't hear the movements of the creature anymore but I could sense it, like I had before. In retrospect, I wonder if being able to sense it was another dormant instinct. My feet were on auto-pilot, but it was gaining, I could sense it on my left, no my right, holy crap there are two of them! More? I had started to be able to hear them now, they were getting closer. I stumbled and fell as my feet were at odds of where to go to elude these approaching beasts. I only had to time to stand up when...

_**BZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT**_

That awful sound rang all around me, I clapped my hands to my ears but the sound was inside my head, over and over, my head felt as though it was about to explode.

When it stopped.

I collapsed on the ground, I'd never felt to relieved to have my head feeling normal before, I couldn't see, or even think for a few moments. When my head cleared and I sat up, I realised that the thing I had been running from was getting closer, I still couldn't see clearly, but I could make out a large shape and what appeared to be a face as the thing leant down in front of me. Gradually, my focus returned and the face swam into view. Can you guess who it was yet?

It was The Doctor.

He spoke as he noticed me becoming aware of his presense.

"Jess...ica, I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was you. I thought, well never mind, but I'm sorry."

Isaac came and knelt down beside me, he pulled out a small torch, my vision was gone again for a moment as he shone it in my eyes and, when he turned it off, left me blinking.

"She'll be alright, just a little concussed, but you had enough power there to take out an elephant, any longer and..."

"W-e-ll, I wasn't exactly expecting to stun a young girl, this time," he added winking at me then turned to me, "when you ran, I assumed it was what we were af..."

He stopped talking abruptly as another sound, much larger than the sounds I had heard earlier, as I felt something else pass the clearing in which we were sitting.

"This isn't safe, at least not for you Jessica, it _is_ here." He turned to Isaac, "We'll take her to the TARDIS."

I had come to expect too many weird comments from this man to even question what the TARDIS was, but if it was safety. The Doctor and Isaac held me by the arms and gently lifted me to my feet. They began to rapidly walk in the direction that we had all just come from. I was better, though still a bit dazed and was glad of the help, and I had so many questions but they would probably have to wait. Having said that, the number of questions only increased as time went on.

After walking for a few minutes we came to another clearing and the two stopped. This clearing was just like any other, nothing odd about it, except a big blue wooden door, no a box, I could see other panels, with a large light on top and two small windows on each panel around it. Just below the light was a sign saying 'Police Public Call Box'. I stood, now able to support myself, staring at this oddity, then turning to Isaac with a raised eyebrow. Isaac was looking at me with a cheeky grin and told me to go inside, as he did so putting a key in the lock and opening the door. Once the door was open I knew something was wrong by the dim blue and green lights coming from the gloom. Once I had entered, I took a look around and ran back out again, I walked around the box, taking in every detail of the outside, including it's size, until I came back to the door, Isaac still wore that grin and The Doctor look bemused.

"I love this part." The Doctor said.

Chapter 5: Mauve

Having gotten over the shock of the box, which I gathered is called the TARDIS, that's bigger on the inside (infinitely apparentely), The Doctor and Isaac had set me down on a small two-seater chair beside the main...console? It was moth-eaten and coming apart, but it was very comfortable and for a moment I felt very at ease, laid down and tried to sleep. It was only when I realised the madness of what was happening that I sat up and looked around the room. I was alone besides a cat, a small black and white cat that Jess had never known was there, it jumped up onto the seats and curled up next to me. I sat stroking it for a while, before again remembering what was going on and stood up.

"Doctor? Isaac?" I called out.

A door, well more of a gap in the wall, opened somewhere above me and Isaac stepped out onto the metal bridge above.

"Sleep well?" He asked as he walked along the bridge, which followed a large part of the wall and down a metal ladder to my level.

"Er...yeah, what happened?"

"Uhh, yeah about that, The Doctor thought you were the creature so he tried to subdue you with his Sonic Screwdriver, worked apparentely."

"Right...How long have I been asleep?"

"Oh, about half an hour. The Doctor said to keep you here while he went back to look for it."

"Look for what?"

"The Sted Creature" he said with a hint of glee. He glanced at my face, which I hadn't conciously changed, looked serious and began to explain.

"Well, at your supermarket, and other places around the town, we were picking up traces of Sted radiation on this," he jabbed his thumb at the screen just above the console, "and came to investigate. The Doctor seemed really worried, he said he'd only encountered it once before and knew that it was very, very bad. We were detecting a very strong signal in the woods where we found you and The Doctor's convinced that the being leaving these traces of radiation wherever it goes and he's determined to catch it before it kills again."

"Again? I haven't heard of anyone found dead yet."

"Not found dead, no. Apparentely this radiation leaves no identifiable trace, only piles of clothes because Sted radiation doesn't affect cloth just flesh, so most likely would've been assumed missing."

My memory, as if mockingly, pulled up the news report I had watched a few days ago. I groaned.

"Yeah," Isaac continued, "but the radiation should dissapate quite quickly, according to this." He pulled out the book he'd been given by Chronotis.

"So The Doctor is facing this thing alone?"

"Indeed, but don't worry, this isn't his first time. But you're better off here, he's convinced that it's following you, he doesn't know why, but he knows that you're safe here."

"Following me? Why? No, it can't be, if it's been here for a few days it's had hundreds of chances to attack me."

"Like I said, The Doctor's convinced himself. But most of the trace radiation we've found has been in this town, and in places that you've been."

The screen on the console went red and odd circles and shapes danced rapidly around on the screen. Isaac turned to the screen and put a hand to his mouth.

"You understand what it means?" I asked.

"No, but when has red ever been good?"

"Touché"

Almost in response, the screen turned mauve.

"That's even WORSE" Isaac groaned.

Without any explanation, Isaac burst into a sprint out of the doors and into the woods, I looked around once more and followed suit. As I left the TARDIS I could see the rapidly retreating shadow of Isaac and heard the door creak shut behind me. It was only now that I remembered the danger that was all around. I called for Isaac to come back and called out for The Doctor but no response came. My flight instinct kicked in again and I retraced my few steps to the TARDIS doors and pushed at them. They were locked. I rememebered how Isaac had used a key to open the doors and realised I was stuck. With only one other alternative, I broke into a run away from the TARDIS and back in the direction of...home.

It wasn't until I'd run through the woods, into the house and jumped onto my bed did I realise how much more vulnerable I was now, and how stupid I'd been.

_"He's convinced that it's following you."_

By coming back here she'd put everyone in danger, all the kids and care workers could be downstairs now, at the mercy of this thing. I couldn't move, I didn't want to move, I didn't want to think, feel, know anything. I just wanted this all to end.

I heard a shout and, without thinking, went to investigate from the window, merely to observe. I saw Isaac and The Doctor on the pavement below, Isaac appeared ok, but The Doctor wasn't, he was leaning against a lampost convulsing and groaning, occasionally bursting into high pitched screams that seemed impossible for anyone, let alone this man. I couldn't let this happen. I ran outside and crossed the road to the two people. Isaac was clutching his head, his eyes filled with utter confusion, he didn't know what to do. The Doctor, now sweating terribly, began panting heavily as he repressed his groans and managed to utter only two words.

"Ngg...Stand...B-ack!"

Isaac obliged and pulled me back sharply away from The Doctor. Now convinced we were a safe enough distance away The Doctor stood up with his arms outstretched, he shut his eyes and his face clenched. He let out another scream.

In a flash of red, The Doctor stood there, exhausted and still breathing heavily, but apparentely normal again. He ran over to us and made us crouch down, he bent over me and Isaac in a defence. Under his arm, I could see a cloud of red gas forming where he'd been standing. It expanded until it touched the ground, I could see clawed feet begin to form through the cloud. The Doctor grabbed us both by the arms and dragged us back into the woods towards the TARDIS.

Chapter 6: Pippa

Back in the TARDIS again, The Doctor sat down for a moment to catch his breath, a few minutes later he stood up and took me over to stand on a white platform I hadn't noticed when I was there before, nor when we'd come in just now. Without a word, he moved my arms to my sides and made me look straight ahead at the console. It was now I had time to take in all the detail, it was a glowed a beautiful light blue-green colour and had all manner of odd devices and levers attached. It struck me that they didn't seem to have any consistency, as if they'd all been stuck on there as an afterthought. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, The Doctor turn to the console and pull the screen towards him on it's movable rail, he rotated a small glowing ball on the console forwards then anti-clockwise, slowly pulled a lever down and pressed several buttons on a normal QWERTY keyboard. I could only see the screen at an odd angle, but I could make out a human outline, and once large white line moving up and down it. Isaac kept glancing from me to the screen and back again.

This continued for a few minutes in silence, after a ping that sounded suspiciously like a microwave, The Doctor indicated to me that I could step down and beakoned me over to him. I stood staring at the same human figure and a different array of circles and shapes that I had seen earlier. The Doctor looked confused.

"I can't work this out. There is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about you, other than perhaps a slightly higher body temperature, but for some reason this Sted thing follows you."

"It hasn't been following me," I argued, "So it was at work and here, it's a coincidence."

"Not exactly, we traced it in different areas surrounding your house each day. We kinda guessed it would be here next so we turned up." Isaac piped up, stroking the cat who had reappeared again.

"What happened to you? Back there?" I asked, Isaac looked up from the cat and stared intently at The Doctor.

"I ran into the Sted creature, it tried to work it's gory gory magic on me, but I suprised it." he grinned.

"How?"

"Well, a _human_ would've evaporated instantly with direct contact from the creature or it's trace radiation. My time lord physiology confused it and I was able to resist it's effect, just had to expell the radiation but didn't want it to infect you two so we had to run."

"Time Lord? You're not human?"

"We'll get to later. The point is it's targeting you for no apparent reason."

"Never mind that, any way of stopping it and quick?"

"Why quick? You're safe in here." Isaac broke his silence.

"Yeah, but if it's after me then it might go after my family...sort of family."

"You're right," The Doctor said, "So first thing we should do is draw it away, we get a good distance, it'll track you down through smell."

The Doctor grinned at me and said

"We're going to fly. Jessica Bright, welcome to the TARDIS."

Without another word, The Doctor pulled a lever on the edge of the console and began running maniacally around the console as he played with various components. After a few seconds of this insane ballet, the room shook gently and the bright light coming from the central column starting moving. A noise began to sound all around, a beautiful yet annoying noise, as the shaking intensified, Isaac clung onto the cat and the chair while I was being shaken around, I noticed that the white platform I had stood on earlier was no longer there. After a few minutes, The Doctor jumped up as he pushed one last lever and, apparentely for no reason, rang a bell on the console.

"Made it, nice ride. Shame though, I didn't get to use my little hammer" he said. I noticed a hammer on a string hanging from the console.

I was at a loss to understand what had happened, so I asked the simplest question I could think of.

"Does it always make that noise?"

"You'll have to get used to it, I'm afraid." Isaac said, setting the cat down and letting it run off up a set of ladder-stairs at the edge of the room and through what appeared to be a cat door.

"Her name's Pippa, by the way."

**OK, Break for a moment. I wrote this months ago and, thus far, have forgotten all about it. I was hoping to finish it off before uploading it but that could take a while so here's........Part 1........Review please my dears.**


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